UK Politics

[Neil]

Just now, Ozanne said:

Yeah that's true, I was thinking more of Labour members that have needed to be booted out. Saying that though, were those members saying the type of anti-semitic comments back then that they are now? Genuine question as I was quite young back then.

starmer has only tried to remove troublemakers, under blair they toed the line.

[Ozanne]

1 minute ago, Neil said:

starmer has only tried to remove troublemakers, under blair they toed the line.

That was kinda what my question was about, as I don't remember much of that type of thing back then but I wasn't paying as much attention to it either.

[pink_triangle]

14 minutes ago, fraybentos1 said:

Starmer is meh at best, there is no denying he has turned things round and Labour enjoy a commanding lead in the polls.

It would also to be silly to think that a huge chunk of the turnaround is the fact that the Tories have totally and utterly imploded and have had scandal after scandal 

Starmer may be meh, but the question is who are the non meh candidates that could be doing better. I honestly can’t see anyone.

I agree the Torys may be limping to the end, but I think Starmer is the best option to take advantage.

[Ozanne]

Starmer was definitely the best option of the candidates back in 2020 and probably the best option of all Labour MPs at the time. Long-Bailey would've been ousted as leader long before now, she probably wouldn't have made it much past the report into anti-semitism.

[pink_triangle]

12 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

There was a while bunch of lefties on the Labour backbenches when Blair was PM...they didn't exactly get on, but there weren't outright moves to remove them like has happened under Starmer.

I think the slight difference is that Blair succeeded Smith/Kinnock while Starmer succeeded Corbyn. Starmer has probably needed to do more to show the party has changed than Blair did. The Tory argument that Starmer wanted Jez to be PM is weakened by the fact it was him who chucked him out.

[kaosmark2]

28 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I think Starmer doesn’t have many close friends, neither does he have many enemies. I am hoping that means we get new labour without the Blair/Brown infighting. You say he is loathed by many on the left, but who are  talking about here? People like Owen Jones changing likes and retweets? Corbynites who have left the party?

I mean personally, I consider the fact that Neil Coyle has been welcomed back into the party, to be Starmer endorsing all of the sinophobic abuse and assault that I and others have suffered post-covid. I think it's a toxic pile of crap and that he's more interested in factionalism over protecting minorities.

I had the same criticism of Corbyn and his defense of Chris Williamson just to be clear.

[Neil]

48 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Starmer may be meh, but the question is who are the non meh candidates that could be doing better. I honestly can’t see anyone.

I agree the Torys may be limping to the end, but I think Starmer is the best option to take advantage.

stammer shouldn't be surprising anyone except the non-thinkers of momentum, who rejected less-meh candidates to go with stammer promising to be sh*t like jez.

[cellar]

3 hours ago, Ozanne said:

Rachel Reeves would be correct.

"The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, placed a large portion of the blame on the Bank of England’s interest rate hikes."

Looks like someone agrees with you, Ozanne 😉

Edited February 15 by cellar

[Crazyfool01]

someone tell me Fiona bruce isnt a tory this is absolute Bias , Tim Davey on the board , and kuensberg is clearly a Boris fan 

 

[Ozanne]

26 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

someone tell me Fiona bruce isnt a tory this is absolute Bias , Tim Davey on the board , and kuensberg is clearly a Boris fan 

 

This clip is brilliant, Lucy Powell does so well here.

I agree with you about BBC bias. Laura K has always been a massive Johnson fan ands gives Tories an easy ride on her show, Fiona Bruce is near enough confirmed as Tory to me given how she handles Tory/Labour MPs on QT and then just look at their coverage of the recession today, they called it 'mild' when if you dig deeper the data says otherwise.

[steviewevie]

29 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

This clip is brilliant, Lucy Powell does so well here.

I agree with you about BBC bias. Laura K has always been a massive Johnson fan ands gives Tories an easy ride on her show, Fiona Bruce is near enough confirmed as Tory to me given how she handles Tory/Labour MPs on QT and then just look at their coverage of the recession today, they called it 'mild' when if you dig deeper the data says otherwise.

It is mild relative to recent recessions though... especially 2008.. right?

[Ozanne]

2 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

It is mild relative to recent recessions though... especially 2008.. right?

Potentially not as GDP per head has fallen for the last seven quarters, which is the longest continual decline since modern records began in 1955.

[steviewevie]

Just now, Ozanne said:

Potentially not as GDP per head has fallen for the last seven quarters, which is the longest continual decline since modern records began in 1955.

Yeah, but that isn't technically a recession. I mean things have been sh*t for ages, last few years particularly bad with inflation etc...but in terms of how we measure recessions then this one is not as deep. Basically we've been going sideways for years.

[Ozanne]

7 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Yeah, but that isn't technically a recession. I mean things have been sh*t for ages, last few years particularly bad with inflation etc...but in terms of how we measure recessions then this one is not as deep. Basically we've been going sideways for years.

A recession is a recession. If it is a 'mild' one that won't be of any comfort to loads of people who are struggling to make ends meet.

It's Tory spin to make the situation not seem as bad so they get let off.

[gizmoman]

43 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

This clip is brilliant, Lucy Powell does so well here.

I agree with you about BBC bias. Laura K has always been a massive Johnson fan ands gives Tories an easy ride on her show, Fiona Bruce is near enough confirmed as Tory to me given how she handles Tory/Labour MPs on QT and then just look at their coverage of the recession today, they called it 'mild' when if you dig deeper the data says otherwise.

You do realise that the "Sex Offender" criticism can be levied at all the political parties? For some reason politics attracts the worst in people. I won't bother to link a list of Labour sex offenders but I can assure you it will take a bit of reading, same for the Lib Dems and the Tories as well of course. When they're not indulging in questionable sex, most of them are thinking of ways to feather their nest, sad but but true, most of them are not worth voting for.

[mattiloy]

2 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I mean personally, I consider the fact that Neil Coyle has been welcomed back into the party, to be Starmer endorsing all of the sinophobic abuse and assault that I and others have suffered post-covid. I think it's a toxic pile of crap and that he's more interested in factionalism over protecting minorities.

I had the same criticism of Corbyn and his defense of Chris Williamson just to be clear.

 

Bit different. Williamson was first suspended for the attached. Coyle for the other attached.

Then NEC made the decision to readmit williamson and then he was subsequently kicked out again after a repeat offence.

Coyle already had sexual harrassment on his rap sheet and he’s still in the fold.

 

FWIW i’m not saying Williamson is not an antisemite (judging from what I’ve encountered of his post parliamentary career), just that Coyle’s offense being overtly racist is clearly the more serious transgression.

 

Edited February 15 by mattiloy

[steviewevie]

 

[fraybentos1]

42 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

A recession is a recession. If it is a 'mild' one that won't be of any comfort to loads of people who are struggling to make ends meet.

It's Tory spin to make the situation not seem as bad so they get let off.

Nah come on - not all recessions are equal. So by your logic the 2008 crash and now are like for like? That’s ludicrous.

The economy is not in a great shape but it is by very definition a mild recession. 2008 saw massive unemployment and the near collapse of the banking system! 

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, mattiloy said:

 

Bit different. Williamson was first suspended for the attached. Coyle for the other attached.

Then NEC made the decision to readmit williamson and then he was subsequently kicked out again after a repeat offence.

Coyle already had sexual harrassment on his rap sheet and he’s still in the fold.

 

FWIW i’m not saying Williamson is not an antisemite (judging from what I’ve encountered of his post parliamentary career), just that Coyle’s offense being overtly racist is clearly the more serious transgression.

 

Williamson had more than one incident though, pushing places to give platforms to Gilad Atzmon for instance.

Coyle has no business being in the Labour party. Even if he was just suspended initially there's absolutely no way it should have ever been lifted. As I said, welcoming him back in says to me that Starmer is endorsing sinophobic assault, which has been rising post-covid.

[Neil]

3 hours ago, cellar said:

"The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, placed a large portion of the blame on the Bank of England’s interest rate hikes."

Looks like someone agrees with you, Ozanne 😉

he was never going to blame his mate truss.

 

interest rate hikes are designed to slow the economy. using them to control inflation needs to be a carefully balanced thing

[Neil]

Labour have won Kingswood. The tiny green vote doesn't suggest a brakethru for the greens in Bristol central.

[Neil]

2 hours ago, steviewevie said:

 

my mate used to be fergal's paperboy.

[kalifire]

29 minutes ago, Neil said:

Labour have won Kingswood. The tiny green vote doesn't suggest a brakethru for the greens in Bristol central.

The Tory + Reform UK vote totals more than Labour’s. Let’s see more of this right vote splitting in the general. 

[Ozanne]

Incredible! Labour win both safe Tory seats! 

[Ozanne]

Wellingborough was a 28.55% swing to Labour. f**k me!